Networks, such as the Internet, have become an increasingly important part of our everyday lives. Millions of people now access the Internet on a daily basis to shop for goods and services, obtain information of interest (e.g., streaming video and/or audio), and communicate with friends, family, and co-workers (e.g., via e-mail). Currently, when an individual wishes to purchase a product or simply find information on the Internet, the individual enters into his/her web browser a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) pertaining to a web site of interest in order to access that particular web site. The individual then determines whether the information of interest is available at that particular web site.
For example, suppose an individual wishes to view a live television broadcast via the Internet. The individual accesses the Internet and types in a URL associated with a web site providing the live television broadcast. The individual may then access that web site's home page to begin viewing the live television broadcast.
In some situations, the individual may not have the necessary network resources (e.g., bandwidth) available for viewing the live television broadcast. The lack of adequate resources may cause the live television broadcast to be choppy or fail to play all together, thereby diminishing the individual's viewing experience. The individual's satisfaction may be further diminished when the individual paid for the live television broadcast.
Therefore, there exists a need for systems and methods that improve the providing of multimedia content over a network.